Guardian Beasts | February Half Term

Wolverhampton Art Gallery | February 2026

Half‑term at Wolverhampton Art Gallery was alive with imagination as families joined me to create their own Guardian Beasts — creatures of courage, kindness, and creativity. The workshop invited children to design fantastical protectors inspired by myth, folklore, and the natural world, blending storytelling with making and illustration.

Guardian Beasts Inspired by Alan Measles

The idea behind Guardian Beasts was simple but powerful: every child has an inner guardian — a creature that embodies their strengths, values, and the qualities that help them navigate the world. Although the only Grayson Perry work on display at the time was The Annunciation of the Virgin Deal, I chose to draw inspiration from Alan Measles, Perry’s childhood teddy bear who appears throughout his wider practice as a symbolic protector, moral guide, and mythic companion.

Alan Measles felt far more akin to the workshop audience — a character rooted in childhood imagination, storytelling, and personal mythology. His presence in Perry’s work offered a perfect bridge into a creative activity where children could invent their own symbolic guardians.

Children were invited to think about:

• What protects them

• What gives them courage

• What qualities they rely on

• What creature might represent those things

Using a wide range of collage materials, participants built beasts that represented bravery, empathy, joy, and resilience. Some had wings for freedom, others scales for protection, and a few wore horns and tails to symbolise strength. Each beast became a personal emblem: a guardian shaped by the child’s imagination, identity, and inner world.

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The Process

We began by exploring examples of mythical protectors from around the world — dragons, lions, phoenixes, and forest spirits — before sketching our own. Children then transformed their drawings into 2D creations using card, tissue, foil, cellophane, and haberdashery. The gallery space became a menagerie of colour and imagination, with parents joining in to help their young artists bring their guardians to life.

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Community and Creativity

Workshops like this remind me how art can nurture confidence and connection. Watching families collaborate, laugh, and share stories was a joy. Each finished piece carried its maker’s personality — a reminder that creativity is a form of care, and that every child deserves to feel protected by something they’ve made themselves.

The Guardian Beasts workshop was part of Wolverhampton Art Gallery’s February half‑term programme, celebrating local creativity and family engagement. It was a day filled with glue, glitter, and gentle pride — proof that imagination really does guard the heart.